Free Contemplated Using Hologram Technology To Resurrect Paul Kossoff For London Olympics

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It looks like no musician is safe from being brought back to “life” through the wonder of modern technology. Classic Rock Magazine reported the U.K. band Free considered using a holographic version of its late guitarist Paul Kossoff, but has ultimately decided to scrap those plans.

Original Free members Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke toyed with the idea of bringing Kossoff back via holograph after they were asked to perform at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It would have been the first time the original band appeared on stage together since Fraser’s departure in 1972.

“I always figured we would re-marry our ex-wives before getting back together,” Fraser told Classic Rock. “But the event was such that I felt I should put aside my personal demons.”

Free, best known for the hit 1970 song “All Right Now,” disbanded partially because of Kossoff’s drug addiction – an addiction that lead to his 1976 death at the age of 25.

With Tupac Shakur’s holographic on-stage appearance at last month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, talk about using the technology to recreate dead musicians’ performances has taken over the concert scene. While die-hard fans and concert enthusiasts weigh the pros and cons of using technology to imitate dead rockers, more big names like Queen have said they will be using some sort of optical illusion to recreate late frontman Freddie Mercury for the band’s musical “We Will Rock You.”

Fraser said the band was considering looking at potential replacement guitarists for the ceremony but those plans have since fallen through. He said the million-dollar price tag for the hologram and his own reservations about artificially recreating Kossoff put an end to the idea of Free reuniting for the games.

“One of the things that is difficult in my mind is that Paul was the soul of the band in many respects, and I hesitate to mess with that,” he said. “I don’t see it coming together now.”